Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad idea???

[Can'tFishEnough]

Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad idea???

in response to the issues brought up in a previous thread about Texas Maid boats and their odd size drain plug (like a 7/8 inch diameter by about 3/8-1/2 long), I thought I'd post a potential solution that I was considering doing.

(Edit: According to http://forums.iboats.com/showthread....11&pagenumber= there are several people...)
There are several people who have lost the original drain plugs that went to the TM boats. Some were able to build alternate plugs out of 7/8 in bolts (14 in tread/inch) and a nut & o-ring.

When pricing these items (that I can't find locally very easily - and I'm in a large metropolitan city even) online it seems I'm looking at roughly $30 for the bolt alone sometimes more as some places wont sell just one due to minimum quantity requirements) not to mention maybe a nut and possibly a flat washer to seal the o-ring to the boat.

So here is what I'm planning on doing:
I found a Bronze Garboard Plug flange with the standard brass (1/2 in NPT) plug for about $8. It installs with 3 #8 screws (I assume stainless steel). here is a link - http://www.iboats.com/Garboard-Drai...7795502--**********.953147098--view_id.167316

I'm suggesting drilling out the existing threads on the plug hole to 1 inch and then installing this flange to make the drain a standard plug from now on.


Does anyone see any potential problems with this? I plan to fill in the gap between the flange and the hole with the the 3m 5200 stuff.

will try to post some pics later this afternoon.

thanks

 

[drewpster]

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

Is it possible to remove the factory drain alltogether? Seems to me that would be better than mounting the new one on top of the old one.

 

[Bob_VT]

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

Most of the aluminum boats do not use screw in plugs. I would suggest mounting an aluminum tube and using the standard rubber plug. I would get a plug and weld in the aluminum tube.

You could go with a standard but you MUST make sure that the screws are tight..... any play what-so-ever will lead to wear in the aluminum....... and the plug would not take much torque to destroy the mounting.

 

[Can'tFishEnough]

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

:Adding some pics:

well, I'll admit that I am pretty green when it comes to boats, but here is the problem with this one... the drain plug is just to the right side of the center of the floor. I do have a aluminum 12 ft john boat that has the aluminum tube that you put a 1in dia plug in (one of the type that you stick in and flip the ring to make it tight) but that tube is welded into the groove on the bottom and out the back of the transom. This one was originally a screw in type that is riveted to the floor with a little backwards "scoop" under the hull.

IF I remove the factory plug set up... I'll have a bunch of holes to fill (and by the way - I'm not good enough to weld aluminum... and not sure what it would take to get that done... I figured if it gets to that point anyway (if this "fix" of mine doesn't work...) then I'll have to start going to shops to find out what it will take.

here are a few pics so you can see what I'm talking about (also if you have a chance look at the link below to the other thread)
(apparently I forgot to put a link for in my original post... http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=365011&pagenumber= )


To "build" a drain plug will cost me a min of $50 maybe more (when you consider shipping etc) to use a bolt and washer set up like was done in the previous thread.

With this set up I can add a standard size plug for about $10 and some marine adhesive... but since I don't have a lot of boat experience I was hoping someone would pipe in if they saw major issues with this fix... so I appreciate your input Bob_VT and drewpster

 

[CantFishEnough]

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

update/recap:
The plug that came with the boat when I got it was like a 3/4 inch PVC threaded pipe plug. Did not work well no matter how much teflon tape I put on the threads.




I then made a "make shift" rubber plug from a 1 inch "john boat" type plug by first replacing the center pin with a bolt and nut with fender washers on both ends, chucking in in a drill, and shaving it down the plug except for the top flange with a file until it would slip in to the plug hole when the compression clamp part was not engaged and it would hold tight when engaged and screwed in a couple turns. After filing it down I replaced original plug hardware to get the cam action rather than needing a wrench to tighten it. I also needed to file down the brass part on the bottom of the original hardware to make it small enough to go through the drain hole. I used it that way for about a year.





I was planning to "convert it" to a standard brass plug that is readily found, but got some conflicting comments back dealing with possible dissimilar metal corrosion using brass and aluminum and potentially being is salt water - or needing to use stainless steel hardware to attach it... etc... it just seemed like bad things might happen that I didn't want to have to fix later...



(continued)

 

[CantFishEnough]

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

Re: Possible mod for Texas Maid drain plug to make it more "standard" - good/bad ide

second pic of "standard plug" - black outline in circle of rivets is how much would need to be drilled to install this type of plug. was planning to attach with stainless sheet metal screws and lots of 3M 5200. However, decided against it as noted previously due to possible dissimilar metal corrosion problems in the future...



Instead, I went ahead with just building a new plug from stainless hardware...

Finally broke down and ordered stainless steel parts from McMaster-Carr
Total of $36.80. Now working fine (needs to be screwed in a little tighter than I'd like but no leaks through the plug. I may need to get an O-ring to go under the steel washer rather than the Abrasion-resistant Rubber washer (or need to put a small strip of teflon tape on it just for the final seal. I initially bought two of the nuts and washers thinking I'd cut the bolt in 2 and make two plugs by using the two nuts as a jam nut type configuration for the second one. (I think 2.5 inch bolt was the shortest 7/8 x 14 tpi one they had at the time with threads all the way to the bolt head). I figured for $37 for 2 plugs it would be worth it. Though I have not cut it still at this time. It does stick up a bit right now, but does the trick. It takes a 1 5/16 socket (or I use what I have heard called a Ford Wrench to snug it down) - similar in function to a Crescent wrench and in shape to a plumbers pipe wrench but without the teeth that would constantly mar up the bolt.



Parts listed in image below about $5.65 for s/h


At first I used one rubber washer and still had a very minor leak. I think we had more water getting in the boat from the bait "trolling" bucket sloshing and for sure had more from choppy lake spray when underway than we did the plug.

I was not really able to use boat for last year but took it out this past weekend and the plug worked great which reminded me I never updated this tread with the new plug info...

The rubber washer is only sold in a pack of 10 so since I had extra I eventually used 2 under the steel washer to get a good seal to the aluminum boat bottom (also scraped the paint away with some scotch bright on a drill) but not sure if an o-ring would work better or not... )

Hope this helps someone out there working on the same problem.